29 must-read photography guides for ecommerce store owners
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eCommerce tips & tricks | www.pixc.com/blog
29 must-read photography guidesby Pixc.com
eCommerce tips & tricks | www.pixc.com/blog
starting out with product photography
eCommerce tips & tricks | www.pixc.com/blog
1. Ecommerce Product Photography: The Essential Guide
If you’re new to product photography, this is the place to start.
WebRetailer’s gigantic guide covers a range of topics, from general
photography tips (which are pure gold), eBay and Amazon image policies,
as well as some product-specific tips for jewelry, clothing, and furniture.
TOP TIP: Always shoot in front of a white backdrop — doing so will reflect
white light onto your product, giving you a well-lit photo, as well as draw
attention to your product.
eCommerce tips & tricks | www.pixc.com/blog
2. 10 Beginner Tips for Unique Product Photography
If you want unique photos that stand out, this is the guide for you. Noupe’s
article is a goldmine of tips on how to take more captivating photos that’ll
stand out on your store and across social media. It’s also packed with jaw-
droppingly beautiful photos that’ll inspire you.
TOP TIP: Use macro shots to catch your customers’ attention… check out
how gorgeous those photos are!
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3. Studio Quality Product Photography with a $12 Set Up
Handmadeology’s short but sweet blog post garnered a comment
bonanza (216 comments!) with its irresistible premise: A wildly inexpensive
studio set-up that’ll help you take professional-quality photos. It’s a no-
frills way to get started, and it’s excellent for beginners. Pair it with a great
background removal service and you’re sure to find eye-popping images
for your store.
TOP TIP: Not having to spend more than $12 is undoubtedly the best part.
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4. Are You Nailing These Best Practices for Your Product Images?
This simple guide from Bigcommerce will set a clear foundation for you to
begin creating amazing photos. Of course, if you know how to do things
correctly from the start, you’ll save yourself tons of time for photo editing
and quickly build up a great collection of incredible product photos.
TOP TIP: Take some in-context photos (products used in everyday
settings) — they’re great for spicing up your social media. With each in-
context photo, you should make your customer say, “I want everything in
this image!”
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5. The Ultimate Guide to DIY Product Photography
When you see the word “ultimate” in an article, you rarely leave
disappointed. Check out LemonStand’s article about how to create top-
notch do-it-yourself product photography! It goes through pretty much
everything you need to know: getting your products ready, setting up your
studio, working with your camera, editing photos, and more.
TOP TIP: You should create a product image template for your website —
this will give your website a consistent look.
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6. Best Camera for Product Photography Guide
If you’ve ever felt your head spinning trying to decide what camera to buy,
let Modahaus’ guide be your aspirin. The comprehensive blog post covers
the pros and cons of various cameras (DSLRs, compact cameras, tablet
cameras, smartphones, etc.) for product photography. By the time you
finish reading the guide, you’ll know what kind of technology you’ll want
to help you create photographic magic.
TOP TIP: Steady your camera with a tripod, control and diffuse your light,
and choose the right background.
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7. Product Photography Tips: Aperture, ISO and Shutter Speed
Why invest in an awesome camera and not learn how to use it? Shooting
manual will give you a lot more control over how your photos turn out.
Start by learning the basics of exposure — aperture, ISO, and shutter
speed. This guide will explain all of these concepts very simply so you can
start making your camera work beautifully for you.
TOP TIP: Small apertures paired with slow shutter speeds work wonders
for product photography — a small aperture will clearly capture
everything in the frame, whereas a slow shutter speed will product a well-
lit photo.
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8. What Are Good Cameras for Product Photography?
This “guide” is actually a Quora post — one that spawned some of the
most incisive discussion about camera buying you can find on the internet.
You’ll find answers about how to make the right purchasing decisions and
many expert recommendations on stellar cameras you can buy.
TOP TIP: Go to DxOMark to see metrics about exactly how good certain
cameras are (sharpness, transmission, distortion, etc.).
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9. How to Take Product Photos With an iPhone (or Other Mobile Phone)
For many store owners, there’s one burning question on their minds: “Can I
actually take great product photos with my smartphone?” (Hint… the
answer is yes!) Shopify Masters’ blog post will cover the top 10 most-
asked questions from business owners about smartphone photography —
including, of course, how to increase their sales with great photos.
TOP TIP: Make sure you have sufficient lighting, but avoid placing
products under a direct light source.
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10. How to Take Amazing Product Photos With Your Smartphone
Want to know which photography prop will take you from “amateur” to
“pro”? There are some great advanced camera apps can download that
will give you so much more control over your smartphone camera. The
juicy details are all here in this StoreYa blog post!
TOP TIP: Okay, we’ll spill the beans. The magic photography prop is a
tripod! Buy one and you’ll see the difference it makes. (Sorry, you’ll still
have to read the article for info on the apps!)
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11. How to Shoot Professional Product Photos with Your Smartphone
Did you know that you can actually play around with the exposure on your
smartphone? It’s not as good as shooting manual on a DSLR, but it will
give you more control over how your photos turn out. Volusion’s blog post
includes a great discussion about exposure (shutter speed, aperture, ISO)
and white balance, and stay tuned for a great little lightbox you can make
at home.
TOP TIP: Increasing the brightness, contrast, and sharpness of your photo
will make your products POP, and if the colours aren’t white right, adjust
the white balance.
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12. Top Tips for Smartphone Photography
We love Photojojo, a store that sells some really cool camera accessories,
and we LOVE their article on the Etsy site about smartphone photography.
The blog post is packed full of sensible tips about lighting and
smartphone camera features, and you’ll find some great tips on editing
your smartphone photos.
TOP TIP: Shoot lots of photos! You can always decide which ones you
want to keep afterwards.
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social media product photography
eCommerce tips & tricks | www.pixc.com/blog
13. Photography for Social Media: 5 Detailed Tips
Creating content for social media isn’t as simple as taking a quick snap
and uploading it — there’s a lot more to it than you may think! Convince &
Convert cover framing and composition, lighting, background, camera
angles, and more, in this info-packed article that’ll help you up your social
media game in no time.
TOP TIP: Use the “rule of thirds” when taking photos — divide your image
into thirds, then take your photo with your subject in the left or right third
of the frame. It’s a cool little trick that experienced photographers use for
better composition.
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14. 13 Tips to Combine Photos and Social Media for Greater Exposure
Social Media Examiner creates a ton of comprehensive content, and this
article definitely continues the trend. You’ll learn a bunch of power-
packed tips on how to increase engagement with your audience on social
media.
TOP TIP: Tip number three: “Create a hook for your photos.” A hook is sort
of like a theme for your product photos, and it’s beneficial to have one
because it’ll help you create social media content faster. When you’re
stuck on ideas for what to post, just revert back to your theme and —
voilà! — you’ve got a way forward.
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15. 6 Product Photography Tips for Instagram
Instagram is huge in the social media space, and it boasts some of the
most engaged users out there. Soldsie’s post offers a few refreshing tips
to create eye-catching Instagram photos. By the time you finish reading
the quick article, you’ll be able to shoot more creative content to engage
your followers.
TOP TIP: If you want to crop your photos to Instagram’s default square
frame, you should still shoot your photos in landscape or portrait and crop
them later.
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16. 23 Tools and Resources to Create Images for Social Media
Buffer and Medium are amazing eCommerce tools. We love how Buffer
creates articles for Medium — they’ve assembled a really useful list of
tools you can use to create awesome social media photos. These tools
include cool little lifesavers like Over, which lets you type text onto
photos, and Aviary, which lets you edit photos from your smartphone.
TOP TIP: Use the Social Image Resizer Tool to crop your product photos
to the correct sizes for different social networks!
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17. How to Light Clothing Like a Product Photographer
Fstoppers is one of the premier photography blogs on the internet, and
the site is known for its authoritative discussions on the technical aspects
of photography. In this post, commercial fashion photographer Peter
House shows how changing the positioning of your light source and light
modifier can make all the difference in your clothing photography.
TOP TIP: Use a light modifier that is a) larger and b) softer to reduce harsh
shadows on your clothing.
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18. How to Photograph Clothing for Your eCommerce Store
How do you take beautiful photos of your clothing for your store? Our
guide will show you how to create amazing clothing photography just like
the pros. Plus… have you ever heard of a ghost mannequin effect? Find out
why it could be the most eye-catching feature in your eCommerce store.
TOP TIP: It’s not easy creating the ghost mannequin effect, but if you pull
it off, your clothing is going to look incredibly professional in your store.
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19. Jewelry Photography: How Do You Take Pictures of Jewelry?
TableTopStudio’s guide is an incredible resource if you’ve mastered the
basics of product photography and are ready to take things to the next
level with some artificial light sources. There are also some useful tips in
regards to specific jewelry types.
TOP TIP: Use your camera’s “spot focus” mode when shooting jewelry to
clearly capture the entire product.
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20. Bright Ideas: Tips and Techniques for Photographing Jewelry
This article from Nikon USA will give you a nice little collection of essential
tips for photographing jewelry. One look at the photos in the article and
you’ll be totally convinced!
TOP TIP: Try to use a smaller room when photographing jewelry — it’ll
help you control your lighting. Consider getting a small light tent for this
purpose.
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21. Jewelry Photography Tips
Once you’ve mastered the basics, you MUST check out MK Digital Direct’s
jewelry photography guide. It goes over lighting, positioning your
products, and how to avoid unnecessary shadows and reflections. You
can also learn the optimum set-up and techniques for photographing a
range of products, including silver, gold and platinum jewelry, diamonds
and gemstones, and pearls.
TOP TIP: Use white natural daylight LEDs to give your diamonds and
gems a professional-looking sparkle.
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22. How to Remove the Background of an Image
Ever wondered how professional photographers remove the backgrounds
from images? Let Pixc show you how it’s done — it’s what we do best. In
this step-by-step tutorial, you’ll learn how to use the pen tool, create a
clipping path, and cut away the background to give you a professional,
retail-ready image.
TOP TIP: Removing the background is a lot easier when the product is
clearly differentiated from the background, which is why you should
always shoot against a white backdrop.
eCommerce tips & tricks | www.pixc.com/blog
23. The 31 Best Photo Apps
Creative Bloq has assembled an impressive collection of photo editing
apps for Android, iPhone, and iPad so you don’t have to go hunting for
them yourself. Just a few of the great apps included in the list are PicLab,
VSCO Cam, and Photoshop Express.
TOP TIP: Seriously, this entire list of 31 editing apps is just too good. Check
it out now!
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24. 55 Photo Editing Tips and Tricks to Live By
If you love editing your photos, you’re going to love Digital Camera World’
s powerhouse compilation of photo editing tips to make your images
stand out. Not only will you find tips on adjusting opacity and checking
levels, but you’ll also find some useful shortcuts that can prove to be
lifesavers.
TOP TIP: Simple but powerful: Don’t overcorrect your photos!
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25. 8 Tips For Getting Started With iPhone Photo Editing
If you’re somebody who loves taking photos with your smartphone, you’re
going to love this article. Just take a look at the images in the blog post
and you’ll be convinced you can take pro-quality photos with the tiny
device in your pocket. Oh, also, don’t worry if you don’t have an iPhone!
You’ll still find lots of great tips for getting the most out of your
smartphone camera.
TOP TIP: Figure out a workflow so you can get consistent photos from all
of your apps.
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26. Photo 101: Tips for Fine-Tuning Your Images
In this beautiful blog post, Design Sponge’s Maxwell Tielman will show
you how to take your photos from “not cute” to “much better.” By adjusting
contrast, color correcting, resizing and sharpening, and more, you can give
your photos that pizzazz you’ve always been looking for. You’ll also learn
quite a few nifty tricks to try out in your photo editing software.
TOP TIP: Simply adjusting the contrast of your photo can make it look like
a million bucks.
eCommerce tips & tricks | www.pixc.com/blog
product photography and your business
eCommerce tips & tricks | www.pixc.com/blog
27. The Ultimate DIY Hack to Breathtaking Product Photography Is… Don’t DIY
It’s DIY like you haven’t thought of it before. In this article, Chris Jones of
Profit From Instagram shows how he leveraged “the power of the ask” to
produce 12 months’ worth of stunning Instagram photos… and completely
offset his costs right away. This blog post includes tons of things business
owners absolutely love, including interacting with their networks, getting
things for free, outsourcing for efficiency, and, of course, making sales.
TOP TIP: Leveraging your network and asking for help can produce some
amazing results.
eCommerce tips & tricks | www.pixc.com/blog
28. Should You Outsource Photo Editing or Do It Yourself?
If you’re a business owner unsure if outsourcing your photo editing is right
for you, check out this article! You’ll learn about hidden costs of doing it
yourself that you might not have thought of before. You’ll also learn how
to compare the costs of outsourcing with the value of your time. Finally,
you’ll find out how you can save over $2,000 editing 1,000 photos! Sounds
like a steal, doesn’t it?
TOP TIP: The rule of thumb is if you make more than it costs you to
outsource something, then you should outsource.
eCommerce tips & tricks | www.pixc.com/blog
29. Top 4 Tips to Tell Your Clients About Their Product Images
Many people in the eCommerce industry have huge misconceptions
about photo-related principles for their businesses. This in-depth article
from Shopify Partners will go over four of the biggest factors of your
images that might affect your conversions.
TOP TIP: It’s always a great idea to include multiple photos for your
product — it’ll allow your potential customers to clearly visualise the
product.
eCommerce tips & tricks | www.pixc.com/blog
29. Should You Outsource Photo Editing or Do It Yourself?
If you’re a business owner unsure if outsourcing your photo editing is right
for you, check out this article! You’ll learn about hidden costs of doing it
yourself that you might not have thought of before. You’ll also learn how
to compare the costs of outsourcing with the value of your time. Finally,
you’ll find out how you can save over $2,000 editing 1,000 photos! Sounds
like a steal, doesn’t it?
TOP TIP: The rule of thumb is if you make more than it costs you to
outsource something, then you should outsource.
eCommerce tips & tricks | www.pixc.com/blog
BONUS: product photography videos
eCommerce tips & tricks | www.pixc.com/blog
What You Need in Your Photographer’s Toolbox
When it comes to taking awesome product photos, preparation can be
half the battle. That said, you should create a ‘Photographer’s Toolbox’
(composed of things like tape, fishing line, pocket scissors, etc.) to have
handy for all of your photo shoots. You’ll thank yourself later!
eCommerce tips & tricks | www.pixc.com/blog
Product Photography: Planning, Setup, Shoot, Post Processing, to Publishing
If you want to see how a professional photographer goes through the
product photography process, take a look at this video from Forrest
Tanaka. It’s an eye-opening glimpse into how to create outstanding
images.
eCommerce tips & tricks | www.pixc.com/blog
Build a Light Box on the Cheap, Take Gorgeous Photos!
A lightbox is an excellent tool to diffuse light on your product and shoot
against a nice white backdrop. You can actually create a really
inexpensive one for yourself; check out this video from DIY Tryin about
how to whip one up!
eCommerce tips & tricks | www.pixc.com/blog
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